Turtle fossil the size of a car found in Spain

An artists impression of the Leviathanochelys aenigmatic

This is the largest marine turtle ever found in Europe!

It's called Leviathanochelys aenigmatica, and researchers say it could grow to be as big as a small car (up to 4m).

You won't be coming across it any time soon if you have a dip in the sea though - this creature lived on earth around 83 million years ago, around the same time as the velociraptor.

It's the second largest turtle fossil ever found on Earth.

This is the excavation site in Spain where the remains were found

The largest turtle that exists now is the Leatherback, which can reach up to 2 meters in length.

But in the Cretaceous Period, turtles as big as Leviathanochelys aenigmatica roamed the seas.

Scientists say these prehistoric turtles were so big because their predators were even bigger!

Their biggest threat came from mosasaurs which were huge marine reptiles with a big powerful jaw and other animals like sharks.

This is an artists impression of a mosasaur, one of the predators Leviathanochelys aenigmatica would've had to avoid to survive

While previous fossils of ancient turtle species can be linked to species we still have around today, researchers think Leviathanochelys aenigmatica is a new lineage.

That's because the shape of its pelvis is something scientists haven't seen in the turtle family.

Researchers think it was likely to allow them to spend lots of time in the depths of the water.

It's not the biggest turtle fossil ever found though - the largest turtle on record is the Archelon which would fetch up to 4.6m in length.